• A model of each body in the system
• A set of connections which connect the bodies and
• The user who tells MOSES what to do

Notice that you tell MOSES what to do, it does not tell you. This in itself is quite a contrast to most programs which presume to tell you how an operation will be carried out. This is a direct result of our belief that you should be able to control all aspects of the operation and the analysis of it.

The fundamental premise of MOSES is a language - the way you tell MOSES what to do. This language exists both for building models and for issuing instructions. The MOSES language is quite rich so that most of the details can be considered (and which make it difficult to learn).

You build models of the bodies you want to analyze with MOSES modeling language. These models remain the same throughout the life cycle of the structure. In fact, models of barges can remain the same over the years, being used for several different projects. Now, once you have a model, you instruct MOSES to perform a simulation of some situation using these models. The details of the mathematics which are used depend on:

• The way things are modeled, and
• The commands used to perform the simulation.

Another way to view MOSES is that it works for you! As a new employee, MOSES is quite inexperienced. It has no idea what you want and it normally does not tell you anything unless you ask. If we trained MOSES, it would be our way of doing things, not necessarily your way. This allows you to bring up MOSES your way, but it also imposes the burden on you to do the training.

As an alternative, we have quite a few "ready made" ways to do analyses. These are provided to ease the burden of your learning. We strongly urge you to use these tools - they work, they are easy to use, and they provide what you need.